


Summer Festivals

by Cio



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Cultural Differences, First Dates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-25 05:33:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4948576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cio/pseuds/Cio
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takumi takes Leo to a Hoshidian festival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Festivals

**Author's Note:**

> Credit to [manamsangaku](http://manamsangaku.tumblr.com/) for allowing me to use her idea.

“Leeeeeooooo!”

Leo groaned at the sound of Elise’s squeaky voice and buried his head further into his pillows. His lack of response, though, only caused several rapid knocks on Leo’s bedroom door on top of Elise’s morning call.

"Leeeeooooo! Open the dooooooor!”  
Sighing, the blond untangled himself from the covers and detached from the warmth and comfort of his bed. Drowsily maneuvering around the books he had set on the floor the night before, Leo eventually made his way to the door and undid the lock. “Good morning Elise and Tak– Takumi?!”

Standing next to Elise was the Hoshidian prince. He was adorned in a totally different outfit than what he would normally wear. What seemed to be a white and silver robe draped Takumi’s toned body, falling to his ankles, where his bare feet were clad in elevated wooden slippers, with a sky blue sash wrapped snugly around his waist. Bundled in his arms looked to be another robe, black and gold in color scheme, and another pair of sandals on top.

“Morning, Leo,” Takumi greeted, a warm smile spreading over his face as he took a step forward into Leo’s bedroom.

Leo, though, was extremely embarrassed that Takumi was in his own home and he was still in his nightclothes and not even properly dressed. He immediately tried shutting the door, but was stopped by Takumi pushing back against the door to keep it open. “J-Just allow me get dressed!”

“Wait, Leo, it’s ok!” Takumi said, trying to force his way into Leo’s room.

“So cute,” Elise giggled as she skipped away, deciding to leave the two alone. As she left, she could hear Leo’s flustered voice in the background and Takumi reassuring him that it wasn’t a big deal.

Eventually, Takumi managed his way into Leo’s room, despite the blond’s protests.

“Ugh, why are you even here so early?” Leo whined.

“We’re going to the Summer Festival to the festival together.”  
Leo quirked an eyebrow out of curiosity. “The Summer Festival?”  
Takumi gave a small nod. “It’s a festival Hoshido holds every summer. Sorry for the late notice, but I thought it’d be a great way for you to learn a bit more about Hoshido’s history and culture. It’ll be fun, I promise. Plus, you never leave the castle and it’s always dark and dreary here, so a little sun wouldn’t hurt.”

“Who says I don’t enjoy the dark and dreariness?”

“Well, I’m sure you do,” Takumi said, “but I’m not taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“You should’ve let me get dressed then. Mind stepping out?”

Takumi shook his head. “Yes, I do.”

“Excuse me?”

“Strip.”

Leo blinked twice. “Um, what?”

“You heard me. Strip.”

“Takumi, I don’t under–”

"Strip.”

“O-Okay,” Leo stuttered, doing as he was told. He began removing his nightclothes, allowing the pieces to fall to the floor, leaving himself in only his undergarments. During the whole process, Takumi was watching, or that’s what it felt like to the blond, causing Leo to absolutely burn up. He suddenly felt very self-conscious about everything.

“Okay, now just slip this on.” Takumi handed Leo the black and gold robe, which Leo thankfully accepted and quickly slipped on. Takumi had to stifle a giggle from how frazzled Leo became. It was cute.

“Um, how does this work?” Leo was trying to cover the front of his body with the robe, but it kept falling open, revealing his small-clothes once more.  
“You need to wrap the obi around the yukata,” Takumi told Leo, handing him the spare sash he had chosen for the blond.

“The what?”

Takumi shook his head. “Never mind, I’ll do it.” He took the blood red sash he picked out and walked behind Leo, pulling the blond in close so he could properly wrap the obi around his waist and around the yukata, fiddling with the ends to tie it into a knot.

Leo’s skin tingled as he felt Takumi’s fingers prod his upper-body when he fixed the obi and yukata, his cheeks flushing with the other prince’s body against his. The Nohrian Prince let out a silent mewl of satisfaction, hoping the other wouldn’t notice.

“Okay, you’re all good to go,” Takumi said, detaching himself from Leo’s body. “Does it feel alright to you?”

It took a while for Leo to snap out of his daze, but when he does, he gave himself a few spins, getting a feel for the foreign outfit. It felt lighter, floatier, than what he’s used to wearing. He gave a small nod of approval.

Takumi grinned, hapy it worked out. “I thought of you when I saw it because it matches that black and gold armor you always wear.”

For about the fifth time in the past hour, Leo’s cheeks started to blush again. “Ah, thank you. I really do love it.”

“Oh, one last thing,” Takumi exclaimed, picking up the sandals and dropping them in front of Leo. “I don’t know if they’ll fit you, but I just assumed we’re similar in size.”

Leo looked down at the sandals and slipped his feet into them, wiggling his toes around. The footwear was slightly big for his feet, but it wasn’t too off. 

“Okay, ready to go?” Takumi started heading towards the door. “The earlier we leave, the more stuff we get to do.”

The blond nodded and began to follow, only to trip and nearly fall to the floor because of the unfamiliarity of the sandals. 

Thankfully, Takumi hadn’t gotten too far and was able to catch Leo, allowing the clumsy blond to collapse into his arms. “Are you okay?”

“Y-Yeah,” Leo mumbled awkwardly, standing up straight and trying to compose himself. “I think the sandals are the problem, since I’m not use to walking in them. I’ll just wear something else.”

Before Leo could do anything, though, Takumi grabbed his wrist. “Wait, don’t. It’ll be fine. Plus, you’ll ruin the overall look of the outfit and you look really go– nice. You look nice. If you want, you can hold onto my arm while we’re walking.

"I’ll be fine, I’m not a child,” Leo sighs. “I’ll just take baby steps.”

“You sure?”

“Mhm.”

“Alright then.”

Leo began following Takumi again, but taking tiny little steps as the Hoshidian went in normal strides. He was going slower than he liked, which was quite apparent when Takumi exited the bedroom way before him, but didn’t want to speed up and trip, humiliating himself again.

By the time Leo had made it outside of the room, Takumi was already several feet away. “Um, Takumi?” the blonde cried out.

Takumi turned around, chuckling when he saw just how far behind Leo was. “Yes?”

“I-I need help.”

Takumi made his way back to Leo, sticking his arm out, which the blond practically clutched onto. The two started walking together in rhythm, still slow, but much faster than what Leo was going at.

“Sorry,” Leo mumbled quietly.

“Haha, it’s okay,” Takumi reassured. “I’m happy to help you.”

“You should just carry me then.”

“Okay, not that happy.”

—

Eventually, Leo was able to walk alone. He still held onto Takumi’s hand quite a bit, just in case, not that Takumi minded, especially when they finally made it to the festival. There were so many things to look at and all the colors and decorations were just so mesmerizing to Leo. They never had anything like this festive back in Nohr and it all was so much for the blond to take in. Not to mention the hundreds of people participating, which outnumbered Nohr whenever any event occurred.

Despite the chatter of hundreds of people around them, Takumi was able to catch the grumble from Leo’s stomach, which the blond was oblivious to due to being so intrigued by the smallest things. “You hungry?”

Leo blinked a few times, taking a while to realize that he indeed was. “Um, yeah, a bit, but I’m not sure what’s good.”

Takumi looked around a bit, before choosing a specific food stand. He dragged Leo over to the stall and pointing at the food in the display case. “Would you like that?”

Leo peered into the case, trying to make out what Takumi was referring to. “What is it?”

“It’s called Takoyaki.”

Leo’s lips started turning upwards into a small smile. “Takoyaki… Takumi… Tako-mi!” The blond started laughing hysterically, as if someone just told him the world’s funniest joke.

Takumi, on the other hand, remained unamused, his blank face staring at Leo and waiting for him to finish.

Eventually, Leo realized he was the only one laughing and stopped when he noticed Takumi was completely silent. “Hehe… Yeah, takoyaki sounds fine.”

After Takumi paid for their food, the two found an open bench to sit on. Since the only utensils available were chopsticks and Leo lacked the skills to use them, the blond struggled to take a single bite of his food. Takumi giggled as he watched Leo fail to pick up the food. Eventually, Leo found it easier to impale each piece of takoyaki with one of the chopsticks to pick up the food.

“Do you like it?” Takumi asked in between mouthfuls.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded, wiping his face for any food. “What’s it made of?”

“Mainly octopus,” Takumi replied. “I eat it all the time. I don’t know, octopus just tastes really good.”

“Is that why your hair looks like an octopus?” Leo burst into laughter when he saw the irritated look on Takumi’s face, only to hunch over in pain when Takumi backhanded the blond’s stomach.

“That was worse than all the pineapple jokes that get thrown at me,” Takumi muttered.

Leo looked at Takumi in confusion. “Wait, what about a pineapple?”

“My hair looks like a pi– Never mind, let’s go do something else.”

The two walked around the area, examining the different merchandise and visiting several stalls. As they were wandering around, Leo began observing one particular stall. There were several tables, each one covered in what looked to be tubs. People were around the tubs, a paddle in one hand and a bowl in the other for each person. The people were dipping the paddles in the tubs for some unknown reason to Leo. What caught his attention, though, was when young girl dipped her paddle into the tub and scooped out what looked to be a small goldfish. Leo then watched as the girl slid the goldfish from her paddle into the bowl.

Leo grabbed onto Takumi’s sleeve, bringing the Hoshidian’s attention to himself, and pointed at the stall with the tubs. “What’re they doing over there?”

Takumi looked over to Leo’s point of interest. “Oh, they’re doing the goldfish catching game.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s pretty self-explanatory,” Takumi explained. “Basically, they give you a paddle and then you try to catch a goldfish with it. It’s mainly for entertaining children, though.”

“Oh, I wanted to try,” Leo muttered sheepishly, looking down at the ground.  
Takumi sighed in response. “Well, there are better things to do, here, but, ugh, fine.”

Leo immediately beamed and gratefully accepted the money Takumi gave him to try out a game. The blond hurried over to the stall, nearly stumbling on the way because of the sandals, and paid the man running the stall. He took his assigned paddle and bowl and rushed over to a vacant tub, excited to begin.  
Meanwhile, Takumi took a seat at a bench close enough so that he could watch Leo. He smiled to himself when he saw how concentrated the Nohrian prince was, his brows furrowed and his stance poised and prepared. 

Takumi knew that, from experience, the game was actually a lot harder than it looked. The paddles used had built-in “nets” used to catch the fish. The only problem was that the nets were made out of thin flimsy paper that easily broke with any rough movement. To make things worse, the fishes’ slimy scales would allow them to easily slip out of the net, so players had to be quick, but gentle, with their net to prevent themselves from ending their own game.

Leo bit his lip and focused as much as he could on catching a fish, but they were so fast and his hand-eye coordination wasn’t the best. He attempted again, plunging the paddle into the water, but missing for about the eighth time. This time, though, when Leo removed the paddle from the water, the paper net tore. Sighing in frustration, Leo looked around for Takumi and made his way over to the other prince.

Takumi looked up from the beetle on the ground that had caught his attention, recognizing Leo’s shadow. “So, how’d you do?”

“I need more money.”

“Oh, why? Don’t you want to look around some more?” Takumi reasoned.  
“No, I need more money,” Leo demanded.

“Err, okay, if you insist.” Takumi reached for more cash in the pocket of his yukata and handed it to Leo. “Hopefully, you’ll get it this time.”

Leo muttered a quick “thank you” and rushed back to the stall to try again. When he received a new paddle and bowl, the blond attempted once more and failed like before, immediately running back to Takumi and demanding more money, despite Takumi’s suggestions to keep looking around.

Although he really wished to walk around some more, Takumi didn’t mind funding Leo’s newfound addiction. There was also the fact that the stoic and haughty prince had finally found a challenge in something, an amusing sight to Takumi. 

When Takumi finally started to lose interest in watching Leo fail, he heard the familiar voice scream his name from the stall. He looked up to see Leo making his way over to the bench, a small pouch with a tiny fish in his hand.

“Look, Takumi! Look!” Leo exclaimed excitedly, almost maniacally.

“Okay, yes, good job! People are starting to stare, though,” Takumi said, giving the blond a thumbs-up.

“Aren’t you going to try?”

“Nah, I’m okay.”

Leo smirked arrogantly. “Are you afraid you’ll do worse than me?”

Takumi shook his head and grinned. “Nope, but you and your fish are welcome to come over and have a play date with the dozens of goldfish I’ve already won.”

Leo frowned and felt slightly embarrassed about his self-considered impressive achievement, which wasn’t that impressive in the first place. 

When the blond’s cheeks began to tint red, Takumi chuckled and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Aha, it’s okay. Even though it’s usually children that are playing, the game is meant for people of all ages and not everyone is good at it. See, that elderly couple is having trouble too.”

“That’s because they’re practically dead.”

Takumi didn’t know whether if that was supposed to be a joke, or not. “Uh, okay, how about we look around some more?”

Leo nodded and allowed Takumi to grab him by his wrist, his fish in his other hand, glancing along as they went.

—

“Hm, I’m tired.”

The two princes had spent hours at the festival together, going way past nightfall. By now, people were already making their way back home and the stalls were starting to shut down. The streets weren’t nearly as crowded and noisy, but the lingering smell of food and the warm summer night made the area still pleasant.

“Mind if we sit down for a bit?” Takumi asked Leon.

“Yeah, my feet hurt.” The two went over to one of the vacant benches and sat down, relaxing in each other’s company.

During the rest of their time together, the two had visited countless stalls and witnessed different forms of entertainment. Leo especially enjoyed the dancing, even though he had no idea what it was meant for.  
His favorite part of the day, though, other than winning Takomi, his newly-named goldfish, much to Takumi’s dismay, was when they went shopping. They didn’t buy much, but Leo had found a fan that matched the light blue color of Takumi’s obi. Since it reminded the blond of the Hoshidian prince, he made Takumi buy it for him. Of course, Leo found one that matched his crimson obi, which he also forced Takumi to purchase and keep, despite his argument of already having a surplus of fans.

Leo was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt Takumi lean his head against his shoulder. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Takumi yawned drowsily. “D-Did you have fun?”

Leo looked away and watched the few people walking by. “Yeah, I had a great time. I really did learn a lot and it was fun, so thanks for ta– Oh.”

He stopped his rambling when he realized Takumi had dozed off on his shoulder, light snores escaping his mouth. It was uncomfortable for Leo to be supporting all of Takumi’s weight, especially when he leaned in further and began to nudge his head into the cradle of Leo’s neck, but the blond didn’t want to accidentally wake him, so he stayed perfectly still.

After a while and much internal debating, Leo looked around, making sure no one else was nearby, and planted a soft kiss atop Takumi’s head. Takumi fidgeted slightly at the touch, but continued to rest. Leo looked up at the night sky, counting the stars as he came up with different ways to repay the other.


End file.
